


Crows of Schwartzgrad: FAQ

by tangymustard (zestymayonaisse), zestymayonaisse



Series: Valkyria Chronicles: Crows of Schwartzgrad [6]
Category: Senjou no Valkyria | Valkyria Chronicles
Genre: Author Commentary, Not a fanfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-01-27 01:28:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21383839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zestymayonaisse/pseuds/tangymustard, https://archiveofourown.org/users/zestymayonaisse/pseuds/zestymayonaisse
Summary: Commentary from the author and editor/artist on Crows of Schwartzgrad, including the inspirations and reasons for the story, talk about character designs, and long talks about VC4. Optional reading.
Series: Valkyria Chronicles: Crows of Schwartzgrad [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1365964
Comments: 10
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So here's the FAQ. Part of the questions were ones we received from you guys, and part of them were topics we really wanted to cover (both just to get the ideas out there, and so that people can see where we're coming from). Just a warning: it's long, so if you read all of it, you're great. And another warning: there's probably a lot of opinions that most fans won't agree with, so if you're especially fond of the writing of VC4... well, this FAQ is optional.  
The current goal is to get Part 3 started in about two weeks. We're still discussing how to schedule updates and such, due to our schedules right now (the editor is facing finals soon, and the author is trying to get ahead on the draft so we have more time to tweak things). We hope you guys enjoy Part 3 when it's here, and thanks for the support.

**FAQ**

Disclaimer: I would not have written what amounts to a novel if I did not feel strongly about Valkyria Chronicles so expect personal opinions in some sections.

**Q. So why did you write this?**  
  
A. I liked Nikola and Chiara, and felt their treatment in VC4 was akin to a snuff film more than a war drama. In a more general sense, I found the entirety of the Imperial side of the game lacking despite the fact there were so many villains. And, while it might sound silly, I also wanted more of the city of Schwartzgrad ‘cause it looked neat.

**Q. Why did you change part 1?**  
  
A. Part 1 in general was pretty weak compared to the story I wound up wanting to write. The rewrite was to better bring it in line on where things are going, but overall I still feel it will be the weakest portion of the story. Minor details in part 1 may still be retconned, since the editor and I had/have more time to tweak the rest of the story before it is posted.

**Q. What’s the inspiration for the Commissariat?**

A. Some of my beef with the ending of VC4 was… How are you going to ever cover up the enemy driving a literal battleship straight into your capital? Especially if millions of men died trying to stop it.

Then I had the idea of a secret police force which would be able to exercise such power. I decided to roll with the more Russian/Soviet tones of the Empire, and based it off of the notorious NKVD as a way of setting it apart from the Nazi/Wehrmacht-derived military. Also it served as a way of tackling smaller bits of VC4 that irked me. One bit was the weird scene where Claude and co. are taken aback by a man being hung for selling out his country. During my playthrough, I assumed it was a lynch mob, but for the purpose of Crows of Schwartzgrad, I assume it was the crows.

I also kept think how weird it was that it seems like the entire Imperial Military is not actually loyal to the Empire or its ideals. Aside from Gregor, all of the villains we meet are in some way are characterized by their lack of loyalty, either by being unwilling servants to the state or actively wanting to destroy it. Considering that in VC1, VC3 and now VC4, an entire army within the Imperial military has gone rogue, attempting to accomplish its own ends, it must be concluded the country has a serious problem with maintaining loyalty to the crown. I felt that there should be an organization in place to keep the armies in check, like the Soviet Union. And in terms of the Empire being more feudal in nature, even the Russian Empire had the Okhrana, so it seems more appropriate for an authoritarian state to have an organization to handle internal “threats.”

Finally, I also wanted a more appropriate final boss than what was X-0. I have been wanting VC to pick back up with the Darcsen conflict for awhile, but instead we got a wacky child-abusing science man who can’t be assed to come back from his laboratory for five minutes to deal with an invasion force. Not to sound conceited, but the Crows are suppose to be that final boss—an organized group of war criminals directly involved with the Empire’s brutal treatment of the Darcsen, who have chosen to reveal themselves at the very end of the story because their work is being threatened by the military’s incompetence.

**Q. What’s Kriegstotcher’s inspiration?**  
  
A. Daughters of War was a cool title card, but the unit itself was primarily was based at first on the Walloon Legion, and then slowly became a sort of Imperial Dirlewanger Brigade. Given how vile those men really were, though, I did decide to significantly tone it down. While I am fine with writing war crimes, I do have my limits on what I want to write from the point of view of the perpetrator.

**Q. Why the differences in Commissariat uniforms? Why not fit the feudal theme?**

A. Because they are not the Imperial military. I wanted to make the crows visually separate from the villains in the game and make an enemy distinctly more unapologetically bad. The completely black uniforms and lack of visible markings is for the purpose of depersonalization, which would be fitting for their work.

**Q. Why is the Empire losing? I thought they were winning in the South.**  
  
A. From my point of view, the Empire has lost two major engagements of immense importance. Its invasion force was completely repelled in Gallia, and it failed to even muster a sufficient defense to protect its capital. I also find it odd that a country like the Empire, which expects its soldiers to die for the Fatherland, would surrender so easily in general. Even in cases like VC1 where the enemy has a valkyria. It doesn’t fit with the military culture of the state itself, which I imagine would throw every conscript into the war before just signing a peace treaty. From a historical perspective, contrary to popular belief, in Japan the atomic bombs were not the sole reason for the surrender. It was the bombs _and_ the Red Army together that posed too great of a threat. Leading up to that point, though, the Japanese military _was_ still willing to throw every man into the fray to prolong a lost war.

To end these “conflicts” in Gallia/Eastern Front not just a year, but only _eight months_, with a large loss of life we don’t even see, is too fairytale-esque for me. The Empire is only ever shown losing, but we’re still supposed to believe they’re a threat to the continent. You can’t just tell the viewer without showing them _being_ a threat. To me, it’s far more interesting to just assume the Empire is starting to lose the war in earnest and the house of cards is coming undone, rather than clinging to a plot hook for another front of the war. I wanted the Imperial State to be on its last legs, and a story that captures the desperation of the situation as it all comes down. We’re in _Endsieg_ now, boys.

**Q. Calibration or adjustment? Motherland or Fatherland? Europe or Europa?**

A. Calibration sounds dumb and I didn’t want to invoke Garrus’s ghost in my story. Same case for Europa, I just find it kind of pointless. As for the usage of Motherland instead of Fatherland, this was a thematic change on my part because I was interpreting the Empire through a more Soviet lens.

**Q. Does the Commissariat know the true history of the ****V****alkyur?**  
  
A. Classified state secrets such as that are only known by Montgomery and Karl. Everyone else within the Commissariat would never look too closely, since they know better. In fact, Cordelia’s proclamation and the truth being revealed is one of the reasons for this re-imagining. It was crucial for story telling purposes for her announcement to occur after the events of VC4 so it could coincide with the end of my story.

**Q. Does York know about the work camps in Gallia, and what is his opinion?**

A. Prince Maximilian’s invasion of Gallia is largely independent of the main army, so the camps built during his occupation serves mostly to benefit his own plans and soldiers. However I also believe he would send some of the mined ragnite back to the motherland, (similar to how German Army Group South sent oil back after occupying what was left of the fields in Grozny).

Regardless of the independent nature of the prince’s actions, its safe to say Monty is aware of the camps themselves, and his viewpoint is simple: if it benefits the Empire, then he is unconcerned about the moral implication. I also would believe there simply would not be enough Darcsen in the occupied regions of Gallia, so it would be logical that Max would have requested a transfer of laborers from Volker, who would have been all too enthusiastic to oblige.

**Q. Is Montgomery racist against the Darcsen?**  
  
A. Montgomery’s personal views on many things, including the Darcsen, will be explored in greater detail starting with Part 3.

**Q. What was in the soup? ****(Part 2 Chapter 6)**  
  
A. It was old spaghetti. Its description was entirely based off of one of those old MRE unpacking videos on YouTube. In my mind, Nikola/Chiara have had few luxuries in their lives so its understandable they have been extremely limited in their experiences.

**Q. What if the Valkyria Chronicles 4 artbook is released and changes any important details?**  
  
A. I based my interpretations of returning characters off their presentation in the game itself, so if characters who were roundly neglected in the game (Heinrich, Nikola, Chiara) suddenly have some in-depth backstory, I will opt to ignore the information because it was never presented to me in conjunction with the plot itself.

**Q. ** **What’s up with Belgar?**   
  
A. I liked Heinrich, specifically his Japanese VA, but I do not like how he just became a Max clone. I liked Max, but it cheapens the prince’s character to keep regurgitating his tropes. I am tired of Imperial characters who… view their soldiers as chess pieces, groomed a female subordinate from a young age, throw said subordinate away in a bid to gain some kind of upper hand in an already lost situation, and wear white.

I wanted to explore Heinrich as something different from Forseti and Maximilian, focusing on his interest in Rocketry. I liked the idea presented by the seeming contradictory writing, in which Chiara claimed they had permission from Belgar to bring out Crymaria, yet Belgar later tells Forseti that the girls chose poorly. I chose to interpret that scene as Belgar intentionally trying to sabotage Nikola/Chiara’s project so he has a reason to retire them and move on to his actual passion.  
  
To help Heinrich feel like more of a presence in the world, I wanted him to have a personal relationship with Montgomery (wouldn’t an unethical scientist want to be friends with the head of the secret police?) which is going to be juxtaposed with Belgar’s coldness toward Nikola/Chiara.

**Edit:** Also it's come to my attention that Belgar's translated combat dialogue in the final mission states that he encourages all his soldiers to use stimulants (which were probably some cocktail of meth and morphine like the Germans used irl).

**Q. Do you hate Klaus?**   
  
A. Not particularly. I think Klaus represents everything wrong with VC4’s writing and is just a discount Jager. He’s a gary-sty who literally survives a tank explosion that most certainly killed his crew. He gets away with everything he does and is rewarded with a happy ending, even if he’s the least deserving of it. He’s by far the single most evil character in the story, right up there with Belgar. Klaus is complicit in everything the Empire and the good doctor is doing, yet is cast as the “good exception” to the villains. This man has a ham-fisted romance with a vulnerable woman who pretty much only seems to love him because he’s the first man to ever be nice to her, and then opts to ignore the plight of two others who are also being tortured by Belgar because Klaus can’t fuck them. It’s lazy writing.

Even though nothing about him is redeemable, I wanted to include him for narrative purposes. I’m aware his scene may be kind of lacking, and it may inevitably be included in the list of scenes to touch up later as we move on in the story. The end result of the scene will still be the same though. The scene might be OOC right now (especially, I guess, if you like Klaus), but it serves its purpose as I don’t particularly want to spend a lot of time on him and let him distract from a story that ultimately is for Nikola and Chiara.

**Q. What about Crymaria?**

A. As an anecdote, I’d like to say that I originally only mentioned her in Klaus’s bit up there, but found it too ironic to not bother discussing her separately. Crymaria is just frighteningly forgettable for a Valkyria. Seriously, even in a DLC that was supposed to give her more screentime, Selvaria steals the show. The end result of her character is solely as either a plot device or a trophy. She may have been treated just as poorly as Nikola and Chiara by the plot. The difference for me, though, wound up being that what they _did_ give N/C was so egregious, whereas Crymaria literally got nothing. She’s just a depressed tortured wet blanket to remind everyone Selvaria’s still dead.

**Q. Why retcon so many deaths but not Forseti’s?**

A. Because I felt as though Forseti had his arc, even if it was incoherent. He will contribute more to the narrative as a cleaned skull on Volker’s desk than he did in the entirety of VC4.

**Q. Aren’t Nikola and Chiara sadistic and abusive to their subordinates?**  
  
A. We’re told this by characters and in the profiles, yet in their shown appearances we only ever see them as either just kind of petty and childish, or they’re busy being traumatized. Let’s take Chiara first, as an example: in her glossary entry, it says she’s a sadist who physically abuses her subordinates. In combat, her taunts seem to reflect this. Forseti seems to imply she and Nikola are mutilating corpses or torturing dying men, after Crymaria sinks a snow cruiser. She laughs while killing your units. The problem with this depiction? Aside from the hints we’re given, we the player never see any of this. We’re _told_ Chiara is evil and unsympathetic.

This contrasts with how she behaves in the few scenes she’s alone with Nikola. During mission nine, the two of them exchange some banter over not answering Forseti’s call to withdraw Crymaria. It’s actually kind of endearing, in its own way, as the two of them just kind of act like bratty kids. However, it’s mission ten that secured my opinion on them being my favorite characters. We see the most of their actual personalities, stemming from their interactions in two very important scenes.

Firstly if you _lose_ the mission by letting them bomb the centurion, Chiara expresses childlike joy that is completely at odds with the serious, violent attitude she has at the start of the mission. More importantly, though, if you down Nikola before her, Chiara encourages her partner to withdraw to safety while teasing her. On the other hand, though, if you down Chiara first, Nikola will call her weak while also offering her medicine—indicating that, though Nikola is cruel, she does care about Chiara in her own way. Even the “I will kill you myself” dialogue isn’t that particularly odd in the kind of environment they grew up in; it’s the same kind of “I can bully you but others can’t” kind of attitude that’s pretty normal for siblings. After all, she threatens this, but after Chiara blows herself up later, Nikola is clearly off the deep end by that point.

Before continuing, I would like to mention that I stopped really caring about the game’s ending when I could already tell they weren’t going to let Klaus die. However, in Chapter 17, we see one final aspect where the writers just dropped the ball. At this point, supposedly Chiara’s mind is “shattered;” yet, instead of behaving like some broken, unfeeling machine when she is told to kill herself, she cries and says she doesn’t want to die. See the issue? The writers once again tell us something about a character, yet said character does something totally different. Her mind being “shattered” doesn’t fit her actual behavior. More importantly, if she doesn’t want to die, why does she do it at all? Why was it necessary for her to commit suicide in such an overly sadistic way? Because Selvaria “sacrificed” herself, or because we just have to keep killing off all the Imperial women in our story? I would’ve been less mad had she actually had been the unhinged sadist she was implied to be, but the whole scene was so disgusting to me, it motivated me to write my first fanfic ever to retcon her death entirely. It wasn’t great, but it was the start of what would later become Crows of Schwartzgrad.

In Nikola’s case, her final scenes constitute some sort of twisted joke. The scene immediately following Chiara’s death cuts back to her briefly, but instead of presenting any thought on the matter, she stays silent. In the mission that follows aboard the Centurion, she is ordered by Forseti to stop Claude. When Claude sees her, he brazenly says, “Another one?” As if, for some reason, he was unaware that there were two of them, and shows how little he really does consider either girl human. If this scene and his lack of reaction to Chiara blowing herself up prior is suppose to reflect his decline into a hardened soldier, then it fails, because these are the only two characters he reacts so uncaring toward. As if they were singled out for his lack of empathy. Some protagonist he is, fraternizing with an enemy commander while actively demonizing two girls he could at least try to talk down.

Moving forward to when we see Nikola again in the final chapter, she confronts Riley and is so out of it, it’s painful to watch. (I have to give props to her Japanese VA, Ohzori and Fujii’s performances sold me on their characters.) However, once again our protagonist displays a disturbing degree of malice toward the girl, opting to leave her bleeding out on the ground. She then makes such an absurdly callous remark about love towards Nikola, which honestly feels as though the writers were reaching through the screen to tell the player that Nikola failed to save the person she loved so therefore she deserves to suffer and die. Completely neglecting the brutality of the situation she was in, because at the end of the day, the story failed to care about actual human drama.

Finally, we have the confrontation with Heinrich, where Nikola decides to kill herself to kill him. In doing so, she states that they are both going to see Chiara together. Things get taken one step too far by having Nikola conclude with her love for Belgar first, then Chiara. This is self explantory, but if I need to clarify it—having an abuse victim killer herself confronting her abuser while hoping to see him in the afterlife is beyond fucked up. Concluding a character’s narrative by having an abuse victim admit she loved her abuser only solidified that the writers never intended for the girls to have any agency in their own stories. Neglecting to write any meaningful growth between Nikola and Chiara while ending Nikola’s story by having her proclaim her love for abuser and committing murder-suicide is not good or interesting in the slightest. Finally in her glossary page, Nikola’s end is credited to her adjustments, as if to fully remove any character agency entirely. I guess in such a dire situation, the writers still cannot allow their female characters to do anything of note without crediting it to a man.

Finally, the DLC: a microcosm to summarize the entire problem with their characters from the writers. A tone-deaf scene that elaborates on an issue I had in the main game as well. Nikola and Chiara verbally bully Crymaria (who, may we all remember, is a grown woman with the power of demigods), as the writers honestly attempt to paint her as the victim of these two (human) girls who are supposedly going through similar torture she does. We then get a scene where Selvaria tells Nikola and Chiara, “Crymaria is far superior to both of you – both as a soldier, and as a human.” To which, as I was playing, said aloud, “Excuse me, what the fuck?”

How am I supposed to believe that the two girls closest to Heinrich, who undoubtedly suffered the worst of his abuse, are maligned as less human by the poster child of the entire series, whose internal struggle was centered around her own concept of humanity? Nikola and Chiara don’t even get to debate if they’re human, they don’t get to even make a choice about their own situations, as the game goes out of its way to remind us that they’re not human. The main game does this as well—Belgar, Forseti, and Klaus all posit the humanity (or lack thereof) of Nikola and Chiara either parallel or juxtaposed to the humanity of the Valkyria.

While I could understand why Heinrich and his associates would consider them inhuman, Federation soldiers have absolutely no reason to view them that way. When Nikola and Chiara are introduced, Kai says, “Don’t let their looks fool you—those are elite soldiers. They’re nothing but weapons themselves.” I don’t think any of this is accidental. The theme is constantly pushed any time Nikola and Chiara are even mentioned, let alone on screen. As a fan of the series, I cannot think of any other character who is treated with such disdain throughout any of the games. Even Forseti, a character with terrible morality and illogical motivations, is granted more redemption than two traumatized girls who had zero choice in their situations.

**TL;DR:** Nikola and Chiara are treated in an intentional, unforgivable way by the plot of VC4. It was bad enough that I have no intention of personally supporting the Valkyria Chronicles series, if they even make another game (though considering how fast the writers all moved on to another series, I doubt it). That doesn’t mean I dislike the universe; in fact, I enjoy it enough and see enough potential to write this story in the first place. I just want to write a human drama to the best of my abilities, I want to study the trauma of being a soldier on the losing side, and I want to do it better.

Bonus TL;DR: I want anyone reading this to think about their glossary pages for a moment. If you copied and pasted Nikola and Chiara’s profiles to some poorly written mindbreak hentai, they wouldn’t need to be edited at all. The fact I can say this with some degree of confidence, no matter how degenerate it makes me sound, requires me to say such a theme has no place in a war story.

**Q. Why did you change Nikola/Chiara’s ages?**  
  
A. Three points to my answer here: Their models, their contextual presentation, and the social climate around making them adults. I should specify that much of the following is just my own interpretation of what little content we were given for them, and you can disagree, but this interpretation is what shaped the story I’m writing now.

Nikola and Chiara’s character models are the smallest models in the game, bar Angie; that includes Neige LePreton, who is sixteen on the Federation’s side. Bringing that to their contextual presentation, their characters make more sense in my mind as child soldiers. Their designs are clearly closer to Raita’s loli type (Chiara specifically was directly ripped directly from a poorly received character in his own hentai series; Belgar, too, is Raita’s creepy old man type). However, in the grander context of their character arcs, the decision to make them adults is with good reason on part of the writers and translators. (I include the translators here because, as it turns out, the original Japanese dialogue uses slightly different language which gives their interactions with Belgar a different context, but same end result.)

At the heart of their stories is this: two girls were raised from a young age by a <strike>creepy old man</strike> evil scientist who <strike>abused them</strike> trained them to be a “perfect soldier.” In an attempt to make them somehow less sympathetic, the writers/translators made them legal adults. This isn’t the first series to treat an abuse narrative poorly, and it’s definitely not the last, but the elements that make their story are definitely in the gross, trope-y territory. Particularly, the Japanese dialogue is explicitly dehumanizing (Belgar’s dialogue is much more cold/impersonal), whereas the English translation added a lot of creepy implications (the scene where Belgar says he loves them is a textbook sexual/emotional abuse tactic).

In terms of just the implications of child soldiers alone, I think aging them up to twenty made sense for the writers and Sega. The climate around niche games in Japan, specifically the Playstation market, has had a bigger push to censor (even to the point of not making sense) certain elements and implications in these games. While also to make them less sympathetic, it would have prevented the potential backlash of having child soldiers at the forefront of their cast.

Whether anyone else has come to the same conclusion, this is stuff that was in the back of my mind while writing. I consider Nikola and Chiara to be abused teenagers (who behave violently, sure, but in a profoundly sympathetic way.) They are bullies with sadistic tendencies, but unlike the writers’ perspectives, I do think they can reform, and a large portion of this story is devoted to that idea: That a soldier can heal from being “corrupted” by war.

**Q. Enough about returning characters, tell us about some of the ideas you had behind your OCs?**

A. **Montgomery York:** Besides being a living personification of the English Vice(s), Montgomery is my honest attempt at breaking the formula of the main Valkyria villains. When putting together his character I said he needed to be four main things: loyal to the Empire, unwilling to throw away his subordinates, actually responsible for some genuine suffering in the world, and must wear black.

That final point might raise an eyebrow, but I do not think dressing my main villain in white to set him apart from his subordinates is all that interesting (looking at you, Max). The Lord of Crows is suppose to blend into the monolith that is his organization. He is a real monster, one motivated by a far grander vision than a dead mother.

That being said, he is a mix of Forseti and Gregor in more ways than one. However, his concept of the Nation is radically different than Gregor, and unlike Forseti, Montgomery’s justice is logical within his world view.

Unironically, from history I based him mostly off Stalin, from the point of view that, as to paraphrase historian Stephen Kotkin, – “To understand the man in Moscow, you should sit in his chair and look out at the world as he did.” I.E., That a man doesn’t need a personal trauma like a dead loved one to do things considered evil; all he needs is an ideological belief he won’t budge from. Bomber Harris was also another historical inspiration for the Lord Commissar.

As for some pop culture influences other characters I considered when putting Monty together were: Cutler Becket (Pirates of the Caribbean), The Master (Fallout), and Montgomery Burns (The Simpsons).

**Karl Ludwig:** Ah, the loyal subordinate, we meet again. Luckily for Karl, his boss actually values him and exploding for no meaningful reason is not in the cards. Instead, the reserved Commissar is supposed to serve as a reminder that evil can be distinctly human.

He also had some qualities from Cigarette Smoking Man (X-Files), and Mercer (Pirates of the Caribbean). Historically, his closest counter-part might be Vyacheslav Molotov, a man with a shocking loyalty to Stalin.

**Commissar Volker:** I wanted a character who set the bar for evil within in the Empire while also voicing my annoyance with the idea of an “unfeeling” soldier. Seriously, Germany in WW2 already cracked that code with little effort; turns out, employing convicted serial killers and sadists is easier than any “super soldier” project. Volker was almost solely based off of Lavrentiy Beria.

**Klara Hedvig:** A character who went through a shocking amounts of reiterations until I settled on the red-haired architect of terror we have today. Her role in the story and the Commissariat wasn’t solidified until I started re-writing part 1. She is based off of Nikolai Yezhov.****

**Ulyana von Wolzogen:** The editor’s favorite character, and one I personally had some difficulty creating an arc for. Part of the problems with her character were shared with Karl, as far as personality goes; the issue with having characters that aren’t as flamboyant as others is still having them “stand out” in some way. She is based off of Khrushchev, who had earned the favor of Stalin during the purge which saved his life.

**Gunther Trofim:** When I was first putting together a draft of Crows of Schwartzgrad, one of the more cursed ideas I had was to have Gunther as the main character. Fortunately I decided against this, as I feel he serves better as Nikola and Chiara’s subordinate. Much of his personality was designed around being unafraid of the violent girls.

Likewise, "Behind Her Blue Flame" for VC1 already established a precedent for Imperial Engineers supporting the main heroine(s). Given how Nikola and Chiara consider themselves little more than weapons, I thought it was the one trope I would willingly reuse.

**Q. ****All the references to the Soviets, are you some kind of sovietboo?**  
  
A. Maybe a little, but it’s moreso that I know Russian history better than German history. I believe that the Empire has become a little too Nazi-esque (Seriously, that jaunty swastika on Klaus’s tank is completely illogical, what would even be the context for the flag?) It’s hideous and not like the disgusting Echidna, which I thought was beautiful. That said, I will admit I like dumb Soviet tanks and their multi-turreted big dick energy.

  
  
**Q. Speaking of tanks, ****w****here are the impractical big designs like the Mamota, and Lophius?**  
  
A. I will admit, this is why I needed a focus for the story that wasn’t specifically the military. While I think I understand a lot about the VC universe, I am not entirely sure of the process that goes into some of the tank designs. Most of the tanks in CoS will be a little too close to their real world designs, but that is just because I lack the creativity to make them more Valkyria-ish.

**Q. Women in the Empire**

A. Given the Commissariat is York’s personal dictatorship, his decision to hire women is not up for debate. Klara and Ulyana are exceptions, not the rule, representing qualities York found desirable for whatever reason. Nikola and Chiara are not even considered human, so their gender is irrelevant.

As for Catherine, she fulfills the role expected of any high class woman in a staunchly conservative society.  
  


**Q. Belgar’s Medicine**   
  


It might be a bit of a stretch on my part, but there is a historical precedent by both the German and Soviet armies regarding the use of amphetamines to improve combat performance. Given how Nikola and Chiara take it off screen, and that Heinrich doesn’t really consider them human at all, I think it's a safe assumption that it isn’t really medicine. More likely, it's some form of stimulant that allows the girls to ignore pain for a set period of time, which would explain Chiara’s aggression.

**Q. Why is the Emperor never named?**  
  
A. I couldn't decide on anything that would really be appropriate. Catherine is about as far into the noble family as I am willing to go, and she has no real basis in the universe either. I think it's more apt that the Emperor is a lot like Hitler, whose style of leadership could be described as absent at best.

**Editor/artist notes:**

When we work on editing we usually go through about five stages before a chapter is ready to be posted. We spent quite some time just discussing the potential directions the story could go, then the author wrote out preliminary scenes. The author sends me updates and we discuss and “live edit” as he writes. Once the entire part is pretty much done, I get the final file to edit and split into chapters. We go over any last minute details the morning before it’s posted, then it gets posted.

The first part was written before the concept of a full story was created, and it all kind of came out of the fact that we actually really wound up loving the new characters and the author also wanted a chance to give Nikola and Chiara time to process and handle their own trauma.

On the topic of trauma, it was something both the author and I put a lot of time and thought into. We actually spent a lot of time, particularly with part 1, discussing and rewriting their interactions to be more in-line with things kids with trauma would do. Both the author and I have personal experience with the topic in different ways, so we both looked back on our experiences to flesh out the way Nikola and Chiara express their problems. The biggest issue was that the game handled any potentially “complex” aspects to their characters very poorly or not at all (which is the case, I feel, for any of the VC4 villains, due to how little screentime they individually got). So we wanted to split up the story between “Nikola and Chiara” scenes and “The Rest of the Plot” scenes, since the point is that they’re still involved in a situation that’s much bigger than just the two of them, even though the story is still about them.

And now on the topic of art, the process of designing the characters was half-author input and half-artist vibes. I really enjoy designing and drawing very different-looking characters, and some were kind of free reign as far as what they could look like. Many of the prominent members of the Commissariat, for example, the author had a particular trait or appearance in mind that I built off of, and in other cases, I drew a face to fit their personality type. Funny enough, there weren’t much disagreements when it came to the more spontaneous character designs, and it seemed like the author and I were pretty much on the same page for almost every character. In some cases for one-off side characters, their designs wound up being so interesting that the author wound up reconsidering their character arcs, like in the case of Manfred and Otto. There are just a few more characters to be introduced, but here are the design notes I kept for the current cast:

**Montgomery York** – He was basically supposed to be a mix of “refined English gentleman” and “insufferable wealthy artistic asshole.” The initial input on his physical features was “a mix between Bertold Gregor and Forseti.”

**Karl Ludwig** – He was meant to be a plain, inconspicuous kind of guy, and it was a rather sudden decision to make him bald with a beard. He’s also meant to be pretty dead inside, so his eyes are intentionally dull.

**Gunther Trofim** – His initial design input from the author was a well-known picture of a kid apart of the Hitler Youth who was photographed crying as the Soviets took Berlin. He also wound up becoming kind of a himbo just because he’s meant to be very non-threatening and friendly. I wound up using him as a guideline for the other Nords in the story: strong features, large nose, fluffy hair, facial hair of some kind.

**Sorina** – Her only design input was “albino sniper.” Due to the nature of her character, there’s not a lot of input on her design, since you’re not really supposed to be able to read her very well. She is intentionally androgynous and aloof.

**Gottfried** – He was originally bald, but then I started worrying about having too many baldies in the cast. His entire character design was just supposed to be “strong comrade dad.” In between his initial design and the final look, I tried making him look more welcoming and distinct from the rest of the cast.

**Siegward von Wolfram** – I can’t say too much about his character but he’s pretty much an open book. He was always supposed to be a pretty boy, but definitely more feminine than Maximilian. His nose and hair are supposed to be his most defining features.

**Fedor Servaas** – A very lanky monk-type man. He’s white, but that kind of white guy who spends so much time outside his skin is leathery and tan. He was also definitely based off Disney’s Frollo, since I was going for the same kind of “unhinged holy man” look.

**Ulyana von Wolgozen** – The concepts behind her design were pretty similar to Karl’s (someone who’s not very noticeable, and definitely not someone who looks like they’re a high-ranking member of the secret police). She was supposed to be unremarkable as a nobleman’s daughter, but almost look a little out of place in her current line of work.

**Klara Hedvig** – Badass Russian redhead who would look sick as hell with a sword. She was one of the last female designs I did, so I had to make her visually distinct. I also didn’t want anyone looking at her and think of someone like Black Widow or something. Her hair style was kind of based off Grell from Black Butler; though their personalities aren’t the same at all, she is the type of character I think of when I think of “attractive violent redhead.”

**Volker** – Ah, Volker. He’s a plastic, American Psycho-type, friendly-but-something’s-off kind of serial killer. The Imperial Psycho. His closed-eye smiling face is also based off Sato from Ajin: Demi-Human. (In fact, it can be assumed he too is only really serious if he opens his eyes.)

**Manfred Rahul** – A middle-eastern smuggler-tortured-Commissar. He was designed intentionally to look “off” in the same way many Indian men under English colonialism had to lighten their skin and cut their hair if they wanted to participate in English society. He was also supposed to have a very “seen some shit” look with the scars and expression, like his new look would be shocking to his former comrades.

**Owl** – A last-minute design, not a lot of intent was put into his look. I wanted him to look like a Balkan Slav and distinct from Manfred and any of the Imperials, hence his long hair and kind of wispy beard.

**Catherine von Gothia** – Definitely was supposed to be an “attractive anime queen” type. She was also based off the real-life Crimean Goths, specifically Maria of Gothia. She’s very refined-but-pretty, has dark hair, kind of supposed to look like a noblewoman who carries herself well.

**Casper Ulf** – He’s a very traditional Viking-type man to reflect the fact he’s very connected to his Nordic heritage. Wolfpelt headgear, scarred with an eyepatch, delightfully demented expression, all of these are meant to portray a guy who is very comfortable in battle and who isn’t particularly concerned with getting hurt. He looks like the type of guy you want to fight alongside on the battlefield.

**Otto Halvard** – He was designed to have the opposite kind of crazy facial hair to Ulf—big mustache and less of a beard. He was also supposed to appear more… artful I guess? Compared to Ulf. He looks much more of a thoughtful guy who’s better at logistics than combat.

**Theodore Irving** – He probably had the most direction from the author, who wanted him to look like a slightly more mature Alex Shepard from Silent Hill: Homecoming. He’s meant to look very much like the generic “white male protag” type of guy. The pouty model kind of face was unintentional, but I was happy with how he looked, so I kept it.

**Edward McDonnell** – I assume everyone here already knows who he is. He now looks less like a creepy military guy and more of a creepy capitalist. He also wears the current Vinnish fashion trends (which I’m imagining are pinstripe suits and the like). His hair went through a lot of changes because I wanted him to be visually distinct from Montgomery, so he kept the slicked-back hair, but trimmed off the length. He also wears glasses now seeing as he’s, like, blind from ogling all that ragnite.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a second FAQ for you all (at this point, it's less of an actual FAQ, and moreso just design notes we felt like clarifying). The hiatus is almost up, at least as far as side stories are concerned. Part 4 is currently being written, but we'll be posting more side character stuff in the meantime. Both of us wound up getting terribly distracted by other interests (the editor accidentally got really into Yu-Gi-Oh of all things, and the author was busy getting angry over Avatar. So... if you wanted CoS politics and child soldiers healing in the A:TLA universe, stay tuned... 👀)

**FAQ 2: The Electric Boogaloo**

Characters:

** Q. Valkyria in CoS: VK and Saeoth**

A. Originally in the early drafts of Part 2, we considered writing CoS as a Valkyria Chronicles story that did not feature any Valkyrias. In fact, a few tweaks to its intro were needed to made to reflect the change in direction. This idea was dropped when Belgar’s character and his role got re-evaluated.

VK came first, conceptually as an enemy that could pose a genuine threat to Nikola and Chiara, as both should be more than a match for ordinary soldiers (at least until they faceplant into a tank.) VK was mainly a consideration of how the United States of Vinland would approach the Valkyrian question. Yes, they canonically prefer a more compact approach, but I do no think they would outright not attempt to make a Valkyrian soldier. Otherwise, there isn’t much to say about VK that doesn’t get into spoiler territory, aside from her name which was based off German Army Prototype designations.

With a Vinnish Valkyria on the drawing board, including an Imperial one was only a matter of time. I was not entirely sure what form she would take until the rewrites of part 3. Since VC limits itself heavily in its quest for marketable waifus, all of the Imperial Valks are incredibly submissive and weak-willed, blindingly clinging to the feet of men in the story. Which… is just incredibly boring, considering the fact they are suppose to be almost god-like beings. Like VK anything else is a spoiler, so I’ll leave it at that.

** Q. Leopold**

A. Dudes with monocles are stylish, and VC has a distinct lack of them. Leopold got shuffled around a lot as to what he was supposed to be doing, until it was finally decided on that he would be the first casualty of the Commissariat’s conflict with the Darcsen.

** Q. Vanja**

A. For a story set in the Nord Republic, there were few Nords in the spotlight on the Republican side. Unfortunately, the editor just had to draw her cuter than she should be, so now I feel bad about how early she dies. (Editor’s note: I feel bad about it, too! Because of her, I imagine the cast has a post-credits actor commentary, like in the Higurashi VN.)

** Q. Why kill Gottfried?**

A. It was a product of the reshuffling that occurred when part 3 was rewritten as it was being uploaded. He was one of several characters on the block, and that scene has so many versions that it was maddening. Truthfully, the final decision to kill of Gottfried stemmed from the fact that he felt the most out of place in Kriegstotcher.

It’s unfortunate cause I did like the guy. At the end, though, of the day honorable men who reflect positive traits of the Empire have no real place within CoS.

**Q. The Vinnish Delegation.**

A. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was in my head when I was putting them together. Though there is more of a cold war theme with this lot, since in regards to VC itself, the United States is always presented as a nebulous force manipulating events in the background. But almost nothing is actually said about it, so anything presented about the nation has been created from scratch by the editor.

As a whole, the delegation members themselves were suppose to have a modern flair, moreso than any other group seen in the games, reflecting how the Untied States of Vinland is considered one of the most technologically advanced nations.

** Q. What is going on with the Darcsen in CoS?**

A. The Darcsen conflict is, as far as I am concerned, the most important component of Valkyria Chronicles. It comes up as a dominant theme in 1-3, and despite getting so much attention, still ends up being completely unresolved because VC4 elected to ignore it entirely.

Not that I think it can be resolved in one satisfying swoop, because that would mean falling into the same troublesome view the whole series has on race-based genocide. I am going to call it a “Japanesism”; not to sound xenophobic but I feel the developers really make certain political opinions impossible to ignore when it comes to how the Darcsen, an obvious Jew/Romani allegory, are depicted. (Editor's note: A "Japanesism" in this case would be the tendency of media sympathetic to imperial powers to downplay or erase the complexity of politically opposed struggles. Specifically, Japanese writers who downplay movements which opposed or existed in conflict with Japan's militarization or imperialism. American media often does the same thing.)

VC1 lectures us on how non-violence is the only way to achieve equality while in the smoldering ruins of a concentration camp, and VC3 takes it a step further by deciding to pull a gotcha on the player by turning the Darcsen antagonist into a word-for-word Nazi. As a whole, the Darcsen are also presented as a group of people who shun violence and will never resort to it. It should be obvious why these are rather ridiculous positions for a game spoofing World War 2 to take, and they discredit the sacrifices of thousands of European Jews who did actively resist the holocaust. Many of whom engaged in violence to do so—the Warsaw Ghetto, for example.

So in CoS, the Darcsen Liberation Movement is to offer a different point of view on the struggle for cultural survival in the face of a genocidal war machine. It should be fairly clear that they are based on various left-wing guerrilla movements, most notably the long-running Communist insurgencies like in Colombia (though the FARC signed an agreement with their government a couple of years ago) and in the Philippines. Movements that lasted long enough for children to be born into them without any interaction with the world outside them.

As I have mentioned before, I do not think Communism exists in VC. Once again, this fact seems to be another heavy-handed Japanesism in the universe. The lack of a meaningful left-wing force, even concepts as basic as being anti-war, by default seem absent. However, with that in mind, I do not see how a concept like National Liberation doesn’t exist considering the plight of the Darcsen. To me that is what Dahau should have been, not a literal Nazi.

To make these Darcsen revolutionaries feel more culturally distinct from the rest of the cast, the editor wanted to come up with an alphabet and language that wasn’t Latin.

**Assorted notes:**

The Empire is a weird state. Yeah, it’s a mixture of pretty much every autocratic government involved in World War 2, including some others as extra flavor, but that tells us very little about how it actually functions. The only indication is that the Emperor technically enjoys limitless power, but it never really elaborates much further in that regard. For the purpose of the games, we the player really do not need to know. But to write from the point of view of the Empire, I pretty much have to guess at its structure.

There seems to be four clear divisions among the Imperial Ruling Class. First, there is the Emperor and his family, who are undisputed in regards of their power. Even Maximilian, a shunned bastard prince, still enjoys a surprising amount of power over military affairs.

Next in line is the Nobility/Aristocracy—it’s unclear what is actually included in this group. I assume the major Imperial Corporations are organized similar to how German Estates transitioned into capitalism, thereby making them an extension of said nobility. Our insight into this group mainly comes from Gregor and Klaus, two men who couldn’t be more different. Gregor, being a rather narrow-minded, stuffy traditionalist, explains why he is held in high regard. Yet Klaus is a bastard of some unnamed noble but once again this seems to be illogically enough to protect him from any discipline.

Third is the Yggist cardinals. In the games themselves it was always unclear to me if there is a central body similar to the Catholic Church in the Empire or not. In regards to CoS, I prefer this notion since it would better contextualize why the Empire has a harsher view of the Darcsen. The Church being its own political force with clear motives also serves to stir the pot.

Fourth, there is the Military, which I separate from nobility tentatively. Jaeger seems to suggest an incorporated General may or may not hold an actual noble title. Considering he just walks away at the end of VC1 indicates to me that, aside from his homeland, he doesn’t really have any other reason to continue to fight for the Empire. In CoS, it is in this fourth estate, if we can call it that, where the Commissariat falls. Although its power is a little more fluid, due to the fact it is a surveillance apparatus which gives it a unique ability to influence the other three portions of society.

On a more opinionated level, I prefer to consider the Empire as something more akin to Austria-Hungary, a multi-ethnic alliance of various noble houses but with occupied countries within the state that are neither happy with the status quo nor represented by the ruling class. Even putting the Darcsen aside, the country is probably rife with nationalist tensions, which make it inherently unstable. Unfortunately outside of the Nords and Jager, there is not many mentions of other national groups within the Imperial Alliance. The brown Imps, Lydia and Chiara, are certainly only included for aesthetic reasons.

To quote the VC3 art book on Lydia as translated by someone on the internet:

  * From PG. 133, Military Uniform and Skin Tone Ideas: _I wanted to give Audrey from the second game olive skin, but couldn’t because it didn’t fit in with the backstory we had for her. I got my opportunity to implement an olive-skinned character with Lydia, _**_since it was okay if_** **_she was only popular with a small portion of players._**

With this in mind, it feels like a safe bet that the VC developers only ever looked at things through a very narrow lens, or maybe this is just another Japanesism. However, because Chiara is a main character in CoS, the editor and I have bounced around ideas on where she is from. It’s worth noting that these were all for fun, and probably not going to come up in the story proper, since at the end of the day she is an Imperial like everyone else. On her wiki page it says she could be from the VC version of Italy, which is supported by her pronunciation of her last name in Japanese. Ro-chee-no is phonetically in line with Italian rather than Spanish.

But CoS does take a different interpretation of the Empire, which is why, name aside, I like the notion of Chiara being a Khazak. It would fit with the multi-ethnic Soviet tones of the Empire, but I concede it’s at odds with the fact it's a hodgepodge of European states. The editor likes to jokingly call her Sicilian, but he also points at the Italian seizure of Libya from the Ottomans as an explanation for Chiara’s appearance. Really though, this is just for fun, cause I like her character regardless because of her Japanese VA’s stellar performance.

To give Nikola a nod, her last name is Graf, so she could be pretty much any nationality with a German influence. Sticking with what I said about Chiara, I like the idea of her being a Balt since it would explain the name and her presence in the Empire.

All of this is irrelevant, unfortunately, but to wrap up this stream of consciousness, I feel some fans including myself tend to overthink how deep Valkyria Chronicles is trying to be. It’s flashy but without any substance. In some ways, I find myself disappointed in the material presented if only because you can tell it's limited by attempts to appeal to a mass audience. Odd, considering if they really wanted to do that, then why bother holding to the same gameplay for four games? I always assumed that was the real barrier for most people.

**Editor/artist notes:**

**Leopold Alois du Bernheim**: What can I say? He's one of the Commissariat's flock that didn't completely abandon his noble past. The author's input was basically "draw a very handsome Reinhard Heydrich, but with Colonel Klink vibes." I think I accomplished that fairly well. It was actually kind of fun to be able to draw an Imperial noble for once. The joke is that he refused to take a new portrait for the profile kept on him by the Commissariat, so they just taped the Commissar's symbol over his old nobility photo. He takes a lot of pride in his appearance, which is something he never let go of after denouncing his old life.

**Lowe**: The main idea behind Lowe’s design was (jokingly) “everything York is afraid of”--a tall, strong, rebellious Darcsen woman. In my mind, the only real reference I wound up using was the famous Afghan Girl photograph; instead, however, she is now able to fight back. She was always meant to be a younger woman, because the author wanted her to be someone who had the weight of her grandfather’s legacy on her shoulders. She's probably one of my favorite characters to draw.

**Nacht**: The rest of the Darcsen characters were kind of free reign when it came to designs. Nacht I based visually off Milo from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. He’s a scholar by heart, and a guerrilla fighter by trade. He’s someone who takes great pride in his heritage, which was fostered by his upbringing in the DLM. I wanted to express him visually as less of an action-type character, and more of a guy who probably would've been more nerdy if he hadn't grown up the way he did.

**Grigori**: He was kind of a combination of a few late 19th/early 20th century leftist theorists. I wanted to give him a bushy Marx beard but also the same kind of disgruntled grandpa look as Bakunin.

**Natalia**: Natalia’s design was drawn on the fly, but I wanted her to look like a kind savta (she was drawn based on Sephardi Jewish women). I also wanted to give her darker skin for a few different reasons. Namely, that I think the DLM camp would have a lot of varied appearances compared to how we see Darcsen in the game, much like how Native communities grow and shape in their identity while surviving colonialism and genocide. And, as a lesser point, it contrasts with the absolutely ridiculous blood magic of the Valkyur, where emphasis is put on genetic purity without any strength behind it. The Valkyria are individuals, but the Darcsen are a people.

**Vanja Olvirsson**: Vanja I wound up redrawing more than once; I was excited to draw a Nordic woman, especially one as a foil to Siegward. She’s rough around the edges, but still has the soft features and large nose that Nords have. I wound up liking her design so much that it made me really sad that she died in the same part she was introduced, but Sorina doesn't fuck around.

**Oliver Hoyt**: Oliver I wanted to draw as a kinda tough Irishman from Edinburgh. As opposed to the look drawn for Edinburgh characters, he’s built wider and has curly red hair, to make him visually distinct from the “English”-type looks.

**VK-0 (Victoria)**: VK-0 (lovingly referred to as VK or Vicky) was made opposite to the image of the Valkyria we’re used to seeing. As opposed to the subserviant waif, VK is someone who did have a choice in where she is, regardless of whether she still believes in that decision. She went through a few design concepts (she was almost of Far Eastern heritage at one point), but overall we wanted to go with a girl who had been shaped by the pain she went through (she has the same physical attributes that the Valks have, but her hair was cut short and she wears a uniform that is visually similar to a straight jacket). Her eyes, the most striking part of her appearance, are tired and aged compared to what she might have looked like before she started the adjustments.

**Laura Ingelheim**: Laura was originally supposed to be a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman, as suggested by the author, but after realizing we forgot to put any descriptions like that when she's mentioned in chapter 6, I decided to make her a Native American woman. A Native woman leading the Vinnish delegation in a strategically vital move on the global stage, as an already successful businesswoman, was supposed to help the reader understand what kind of country Vinland is, compared to the USA. She's got the same energy as #feminist women CEOs who participate in the structures that oppress other women.

**Marcus Fink**: He was supposed to be a very plain-looking, serious businessman, but as I was drawing him he accidentally turned into a chad nerd. He was vaguely inspired by Colin Robinson from the WWDITS TV show.

**Herbert Worthy**: I wanted to draw a real asshole-looking guy with a Colonel Sanders beard. He had to be the most stereotypical 40's American fat cat, to round out the delegation trio.

\--

**Vinland**: I wanted to put a little effort into chiseling out some character for the United States. Historically, I assumed the main difference would be that the Vikings actually settled in and became the dominant colonial force in at least North America. Their relationship would be a different type of erasure or genocide, one where the goal was for Native people to assimilate into the dominant culture. So you do have greater influences of Native American imagery, but Native people are still systemically barred from having control over their own communities or culture without facing backlash.

Visually, if you’ve ever been to the more Scandinavian parts of the Midwest, then you know what kind of European influences I was thinking of. Greenland villages into metropolitan areas. Government architecture is based off Vikings, rather than Romans. So you have less impeccably white columns and domes, and more dark wood, decorative pillars, with multi-layer roofs and spires. Medieval Scandinavian architecture, but modernized.

Socially, it’s a mix between what we might call Canadian dominance and USAmerican dominance; the kind of society were violence and war crimes are hidden under a veneer of Liberal ideology and kindness, rather than American Excellence and fervent nationalism, but always for the “greater good,” or for “freedom and democracy.” Regardless of what they call it in their newspapers, victims of their crimes and imperialism will always call it the same.

**Darcsen**: Giving the Darcsen _something_ in regards to culture was a task I probably took a little too seriously. I felt as though one of the most negligent (and telling) things the writers did was essentially erase European ethnic struggles and genocide by making their “targets” of this violence essentially a fantasy race based of several distinct struggles (Eastern European Jews, Romani, and Native people), thus erasing the complexities of those struggles individually, and on _top_ of that, reducing this new fictional ethnicity to a cultureless genocide-bait who uniformly either believe in nonviolence, or when they don’t, are distinctly framed as more evil than their oppressors.

The writing team’s decisions in characterizing the most vulnerable characters in the cast is more telling of their own politics than it is of the politics in the game. So, the least I could’ve done for these characters on my end was make them culturally distinct from the Imperials. The language they speak in is a really specific mish-mash of Russian, Yiddish, and Hebrew, and the written language they use is a mix of the Hebrew and Cyrillic alphabets. I got too excited and wound up making a full font type for them, which I'll probably wind up posting at a later date. If you're really curious, message me @splatsune on Tumblr and I can post it there.

I wanted to be mindful of their situations when figuring out cultural practices. Which is why their burial scene at the end of part 3 was specifically modified from Native and Jewish burials, for a people who are frequently moved or seperated from their loved ones. Thus the symbolism of burying a person’s scarf in their absence, but unable to hold a full ceremony without their community with them. This is meant to tie in with the nature of their resistance; to contrast with the faceless nonviolence that Darcsen are forced to be in the games, the DLM are able to defend their cultural identity against genocide through armed resistance, while having to adapt to the way they live.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! [Here's a present for you for making it to the end!](https://i.imgur.com/KdLaZm6.png)

**Author's Note:**

> Congrats if you made it to the end! [Here's a present for you (x)](https://i.imgur.com/Bn3fArf.png).


End file.
